


Don't Come Any Closer

by boof_floof



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Alternate Universe - Zombies, M/M, Other, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, Platonic Relationships, Zombie Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-23
Updated: 2017-08-26
Packaged: 2019-09-22 09:09:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17056922
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/boof_floof/pseuds/boof_floof
Summary: Joshua and Vernon do their best to survive the Zombie Apocalypse. This was a collab for a 2017 event in a SVT Amino of which I wrote parts 2 and 3, both to be found here. Parts 2 and 3 also have some moodboards and artwork respectively that coincide with the story, so I will provide links to all parts in the notes! Minor edits were made between there and here.Enjoy!





	1. Hallowed Ground and a Hollowed Soul

**Author's Note:**

> Part 1 here: https://aminoapps.com/c/carat-amino/page/blog/the-dark-forest-a-joshua-fanfic-part-1/66Dk_n5hzuKjv8xW0o6XZ8JmknQPY5oBwk  
> Part 2 here: https://aminoapps.com/c/carat-amino/page/blog/hallowed-ground-and-a-hollowed-soul-a-joshua-fanfic-part-2/Wlm5_LPHXu755p4MnVwnRlowz05o4YbBK8  
> Part 3 here: https://aminoapps.com/c/carat-amino/page/blog/dont-come-any-closer-joshua-fanfic-art-teamja/66Dk_n5hzu6a4Bk5mLaEJVj5wGzdGW4VMk  
> Part 4 here: https://aminoapps.com/c/carat-amino/page/blog/last-man-standing-a-joshua-fanfic-part-4/66Dk_n5hzuPQkovNDBJgkMBgJ61vqaeoRV

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank goodness there's an old church out here in the middle of the woods.

Just as he thought this all stopped, someone tapped his shoulder. He tightened his grip on his water gun and tilted his head and turned around…

And saw his friend Chwe Hansol. “Dude, you scared me!” He exclaimed. “Have you been hearing any strange noises? What are you even doing here?”

“I was looking for you. You live a little close to the forest and I figured you would know your way around better than I would. It seems like a better place to be for all of this than… that.” He gestured at the city, which was casting an orange glow on their faces. “And to answer your other question, I have been hearing noises. Though I think I have a better idea of our enemies than you seem to..” The look on Hansol’s face told Jisoo that he’d seen things nobody thought they’d ever see outside of the television screen.

Jisoo took a deep breath. He might as well ask. “So what… exactly… happened?” He wasn’t sure he wanted to know, but he probably needed to.

“From the beginning?” Hansol asked.

“Yeah. If you know what was going on that far back.”

“Well, it all started when I was born.-” Jisoo slapped Hansol’s arm. “Okay, okay.”

______________________________________________________

 

Chaos. Abject chaos. Hansol thought that certainly there would be a little more time before the city of Seoul fell into nothing but a deadly shell of the city he once knew. But the news didn’t spread as quickly as the virus.

Hansol was in a convenience store, getting a few midnight snacks. He looked outside the window as he checked out and saw a small group of girls running from something. One of them tripped and fell, and her friends tried their best to help her up. It looked like she had sprained her ankle. The other two girls slung her arms around their shoulders and tried to start moving again, but their speed was considerably reduced. They looked fearfully behind them and screamed at whatever it was that was chasing them.

He thanked the cashier and walked toward the door, concerned for the girls. As he reached for the handle, however, the two able girls suddenly dropped their friend, sobbing apologies to her as they fled. It was then, luckily, that he saw what was chasing them. He drew back from the glass door and found a broom to slide through the handles, barricading it. A group of four rotting corpses hobbled toward the girl on the ground, who was trying desperately to scoot away.

The reanimated corpses descended on her. Hansol had to look away as the carnage and gore became too much for him to bear. He headed toward the back of the shop, putting more distance between himself and the now bloodied carnivorous mouths of the zombies. The cashier was panicking, pressing the button on the bottom of the counter relentlessly. “Hey man, do you have a back door?” Hansol asked. The man frantically nodded, jumping over the counter to join him. “This way.”

They approached the rear door and the cashier unlocked it, hurriedly pulling back in the case of monsters behind it trying to force it open. Luckily, there were none. Hansol pushed on the door and walked out, looking back to see if the cashier was following him. He wasn’t; he had closed and locked the door again. A convenience store probably wasn’t the worst place to make home during a zombie outbreak. Seriously, is this The Walking Dead?? He was pretty sure he wasn’t dreaming, but if he was this was one of the most realistic dreams he’d ever had.

It would probably be best if he headed out of the city. Hansol thought of his friends on the outskirts.

Jisoo is probably the farthest from the center of Seoul… maybe he’s still alive.

The thought of his friends either being torn apart by those beasts or being turned into one of them filled him with a sense of dread that threatened to turn up the contents of his stomach. Best to keep moving.

Avoiding the sounds of shuffling and groaning (and screams of those who were being pursued), Hansol headed in the direction of Jisoo’s house. He still came across a few lone zombies, but they were fairly easy to dispatch with a solid punch to the head. The thing about inhabiting a decomposing body is that it doesn’t hold together very well.

______________________________________________________

 

“So it really is zombies,” Jisoo said, running a hand through his hair. “I thought that certainly, it was a joke or some sort of misinformation. It’s just so… bizarre.”

“I agree, but I guess it’s the reality now.” Hansol gave a wry smile. “So do you know where a path or something is?”

“Just behind us is the main one. I haven’t gone too far along it, but it seems to go consistently away from the city.” Jisoo gestured at it. “We could follow that for a while and see where it goes?”

“Sounds great. I’ve got food and energy drinks!” He grinned and held up the bag from the convenience store.

______________________________________________________

Several hours of trekking up the slight incline of the trail later, Jisoo and Hansol came across an abandoned church. Luckily, it looked as though they had missed the horde of zombies that must have crawled out of the graves in the nearby graveyard. They walked inside, coughing at the dust and spores floating in the air. The early morning light streamed through the stained glass, sending beams of color shimmering over broken metal and glass on the floor. Their footsteps crunched, making them flinch slightly.

“I guess here is a pretty good place to sleep for now,” Jisoo said, looking around. “What say you?”

“I say sure,” Hansol agreed. He cleared off a pew and lay down, resting his head on his arms. As Jisoo did the same, Hansol spoke up “Do you think the others are okay?”

“I pray they are.” He didn’t want to think about his other friends as shambling monsters or desecrated corpses. No way.

_____________________________________________________

Boom. Shhhhhick. Boom. Shhhhhick. Boom.

Jisoo woke with a start, shocked into consciousness by the noises getting ever closer. “Hansol?” He whispered. No answer. Peeking over the top of his pew, Jisoo saw a single zombie wandering toward the place where the two boys had been sleeping. “Please, wake up!!” Still whispering, Jisoo began praying that Hansol would hear it as well and wake up to help. His chances were looking slim until Hansol’s eyes shot open.

“Thank the heavens! Hansol, what do we do??” Hansol looked back and nearly fell off the pew.

“Shoot.” He said. “At least we got to sleep for a few hours.”

“Do you think we can avoid it and try to get out? Or should we… kill it?” Jisoo was hesitant to hurt it. It was technically alive, right? Did it feel pain?

“It’s best to kill it.” Hansol’s expression was grim. “It’s not pleasant, but it isn’t too difficult. Just go for the head.”

Jisoo nodded, feeling the blood drain from his face as he swallowed dryly. This would not be pleasant. He and Hansol moved slowly to the edge of the pews, allowing for more mobility. On the count of three, they leaped out at the monster. Hansol tripped over a hidden piece of wood that must have fallen from the ceiling many years ago, landing on top of the zombie. “Hansol!!” After watching for a few fearful seconds, Jisoo mentally slapped himself and began looking for a weapon. He remembered his holy water and fumbled for a moment with the water gun before shooting at the unexpectedly strong monster.

Hansol said they were pretty weak… why is this one so powerful??

The holy water landed on the rotting flesh of the zombie and sizzled, but didn’t seem to slow it down any. It didn’t seem to feel the water burning its skin, though it was definitely burning. That wouldn’t help Hansol.

Weapon, weapon, weapon…

He searched the altar for something he could use and came across a candelabra. This’ll do. Running back to where Hansol was still wrestling with the corpse, he whacked its head as hard as he could. It flew off, rolling for several meters. “Are you okay man??” Jisoo asked, dropping the candelabra with a thud. Hansol was breathing heavily, and there was blood on his clothes.

“...Mostly.” He looked troubled. “Jisoo, you have to leave me. I don’t know why that one was different from the others, but it bit me. If I turn, I won’t be able to keep myself from either killing you or turning you as well, not that there’s much difference between the two.”

Jisoo immediately started shaking his head. “I can’t… I can’t leave you. I won’t. We’ll stick together, and if we both turn then that’s what’s meant to be.” Hansol was probably the only thing keeping him from going completely crazy in the chaos that now blanketed the globe. He wasn’t going to leave that anchor. “Let’s look around and see what we can find in here. Maybe there’s something else we can use? The candelabra is a bit heavy.”

Hansol nodded and they split up, stepping over the twitching body of the zombie. Jisoo’s search turned up nothing, so he waited by the food for Hansol to come back. After several minutes of waiting in an unnatural silence, he called out for his friend. His voice echoed, but that was the only reply. Nothing from Hansol.

Now worried, he started looking around, walking up the stairs to the balcony where Hansol had gone to look. Jisoo called out again still with no answer. The smell reached him first. Metallic and repulsive, it made him prepare for the very worst. As his head reached floor level, he saw something that he would forever be trying to purge from his memory. Hansol was lying in a small pool of fresh blood, still flowing slowly from several wounds in his chest. A sleek black knife laid nearby was obviously the item Hansol used to end his own life. As tears welled up in his eyes, Jisoo knelt next to his friend, whispering pleas for him to come back, to not leave him. He felt for a pulse and listened for breathing, but couldn’t make anything out. He couldn’t hold back the sobs at that point and completely broke down. If he was all alone, he didn’t know how he could make it through everything.

He cried until the sun began to set and his tears ran out. There wasn’t anything more he could do here, and Hansol would eventually wake up as a zombie. It was best to leave before that happened. Jisoo picked up the blade lying on the ground and wiped it off before offering one final prayer and farewell for his friend. He set his jaw and pulled back his shoulders as he walked out into the night, facing what would come head on.


	2. Don't Come Any Closer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prepare for pain, my dudes... this chapter is quite a bit shorter than the first but packs in a ton of angst. Bon apetit, y'all.

Jisoo picked up the blade lying on the ground and wiped it off before offering one final prayer and farewell for his friend. He set his jaw and pulled back his shoulders as he walked out into the night, facing what would come head on.

One foot in front of the other. Step. Step. Step. Every footprint I leave behind brings me one step closer to the end.

Jisoo had been walking for hours now, his gaze empty. The only thing keeping him moving was the habit of forward movement. The only thing keeping him from giving up entirely was his determination to make sure Hansol didn’t die in vain.

How did this whole zombie outbreak even happen? How far did it spread? It had only been a day since this all started. Nobody was truly prepared, at least not in Korea (probably). Jisoo would need to find food, but more urgently fresh water. Seoul was probably still a hub of disaster and the flames likely destroyed anything that might have been useful. He needed to find an intact town.

Now he had a plan. If he could just follow signs of civilization, maybe he could find a place with warm water for a much-needed shower and water to drink, not to mention food to replenish his quickly diminishing supply of Hansol’s choice of instant ramyun, pepero, and a small carton of chicken. Speaking of; he needed something in his stomach. He hadn’t eaten since the night before, and the sky was starting to get dark again. The chicken was the most nutritious option.

After eating the rather bland meal and washing it down with the only beverage left, an energy drink, Jisoo jumped up and began heading in the direction he thought the nearest town would be in. Not even an hour into this leg of his journey, however, he started hearing things. The same noises he heard when he first entered the forest, before finding Hansol. The haunting shuffling accompanied by groans and clicks that he now knew were produced by zombies.

What direction were the noises coming from? They were getting louder, for sure. It sounded like there were about five of them in the group. Where did they originate? Was Jisoo going in the right direction, but the city had already been infected and the newly made undead were spreading out to find new victims? He supposed he would just continue going the same way and he’d find out eventually. He’d die out here anyway without food and water.

Stopping for food and not being able to see the sun very well really messed him up. He didn’t realize which direction he was actually going in until he crested a hill and saw the very same church he had left not five hours prior.

No, no, no!!!

This was exactly what he wanted to avoid! He had to get out before Hansol’s reanimated corpse had the opportunity to catch his scent. He already had to see his friend’s death once; a second time would inflict unimaginable damage on the remaining sane part of Jisoo’s psyche. It looked like he had already turned; there were several items strewn across the ground out front of the cathedral, and signs of a struggle.

What ifAppetit

no, he couldn't allow that thought to find any more purchase.

Closer. The noises were getting closer. They were coming clearly from behind him, now. Jisoo had two options at this point: he could turn around and meet the group of zombies head-on as he was, or he could get closer to the church (which seemed empty) and see if he could find anything else to arm himself with. He would have to confront them, either way. He might as well scavenge for additional protection.

Jisoo started down the hill, listening carefully as the noises crept up faster and faster. It was just when he reached the particularly large tree in the churchyard that he spotted them. His estimation was correct; there were five monsters in the group. He decided against identifying them as individuals - that would just make them more difficult to kill. It was what had to be done.

There was no time to forage just yet; he'd have to wait. He approached the first one, knife brandished in front of him. He felt his heart pounding in his chest. This was different from the encounter earlier that day. It was dark, and he couldn't see as well. There was more space to maneuver in, which was both a blessing and a curse.

The man-turned-beast leaped at him, teeth bared in a vicious snarl. Jisoo shouted and ran forward, stabbing it in the neck so he could avoid being bitten. In the moment that the zombie hesitated, he shoved it to the ground and kicked it as hard as he could in the temple. He didn't have time to make sure the job was done, however, as before he finished shuddering at the crunch and the feel of bone crumbling beneath his foot, the next one was upon him.

One after the other, they charged him. And one after the other, Jisoo dispatched them. A hard punch to the temple with the hilt of his blade adding extra support to his fist; a crippling kick to the torso and a severed head; a swift elbow to the jaw and knife point through the roof of a mouth. That was only four of them, though… Where was the fifth? He looked around but couldn't see anything. He'd try and scavenge through the items near the cathedral door before the remaining zombie caught up to him.

Hurriedly, Jisoo leaped toward the debris. He looked around for anything that would be of use. He saw scraps of clothing, spatters of blood.... there!! A handgun - however that got into Korea - lay on the ground near scuffle marks. Jisoo had never once shot a gun before, but he guessed he'd learn fast. All you had to do was pull the trigger, right?

He also found what looked like someone's spare change of clothes- likely one of the zombies he had killed earlier. Jisoo looked down at his current garb, taking in all of the blood and dirt. He would have liked to shower before changing, but beggars can't be choosers. They looked to be the right size and somehow unharmed, too. He entered the church and peeled off his jacket and T-shirt, donning the pink long-sleeved shirt and blue hoodie before removing his pants and doing the same for the pair of jeans. There was something jingling in the pocket of the hoodie. He reached in and pulled out a small box of bullets that matched the gun he had found.

Nice.

Then he heard it. The last zombie; groaning and growling outside the church doors. Jisoo went to meet it. Sure enough, for the second time in as many days, his worst fears were confirmed. The mostly fresh body of Hansol, wearing the same bloodstained clothes as when Jisoo left him, stood before him.

He took a deep breath. "Stop." He said. "I don't want to hurt you."

 

The corpse didn’t hesitate.

"I SAID STOP! Please..."

Joshua looked at what remained of his friend with tears streaming from his eyes. "No... This is not what I wanted… We were supposed to make it through this together..."

With an aching heart, he took a step backward, distancing himself physically from what he was about to do. He lifted the gun in his hand and took aim, preparing to shoot. Their eyes met for several moments, and Jisoo took another step backward at the sight that greeted him. Hansol’s eyes were completely lifeless. They had lost all color, and they stared ahead blankly. This wasn’t Hansol. Not anymore.

It has to be done. I don’t have a choice. He’s not alive anymore… this isn’t him.

Steadying his shaking hands, Jisoo watched the body of his friend wobble forward for a split second before taking one more deep breath and aiming between the dead eyes that he once knew to be so warm and inviting.

 

"I will never forget you."

BAM

The silence after the gunshot was deafening. Just like that, it was over.

Now… to get out of these cursed trees...


End file.
